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Hugo loves his soulmates, platonic or not. And sometimes, he says there's barely any difference.

This is specifically about my last reread of Homme Qui Rit and my current reread of Ninety-three, but can be applied to many other cases in Hugo novels.

Gwynplaine and Dea are in love romantically, but Hugo says that, in a heavenly sense, their love transcends the romantic definition and also becomes, at the same time, the love of two siblings, of two friends, of a parent and a child.

YMMV on how icky or not this is. Hugo describes Valjean's paternal love for Cosette in a similar fashion, while declaring that it's still very much a fatherly love.

And now, in Ninety-three, Cimourdain sees Gauvain as his son. They're described as literal soulmates, a soul divides between two people. But then, en passant, he says they're like Orestes and Pylades. But wait, weren't those two lovers. Weren't Enjolras and Grantaire, in a more romantic way, written as such?

I'm just saying the way Hugo writes about love is interesting.

#gwynplaine #dea #Cimourdain #Gauvain #jean Valjean #cosette #enjolras #grantaire #the man who laughs #l'homme qui rit #Les Miserables #ninety three #93 reread #mari reads stuff

I finished the reread of Ninety-three!

This time around, I liked the book much more – I guess the first time I was just in Hugo burnout – but I still have some mixed feelings about it that can be summed up the way I think about The Man Who Laughs, but with a different meaning: I wish this book was longer!

No, not all of Hugo's books need to be 1000 pages long. Ninety-three is compact, easy to read, Hugo goes to the point, the cast is smaller and easier to direct, and more importantly, no character gets wasted, unlike The Man Who Laughs, where I still feel like the aristocrats are just swept under the rug with no resolution. Maybe that was also what Hugo wanted? Because his characters are symbols at the same time, and maybe what he wanted to say in The Man Who Laughs was said and done just like it is in Ninety-three, maybe it's just me who feels there should have been more.

So what's my problem with Ninety-three? I just like how Hugo writes human interactions and our 3 main characters had a total of 2 human interactions at best in the entire novel. They didn't need more, maybe, because, again, they're Symbols, but damn, I just think their premise is so interesting and could have been explored more.

So in a sense, my problem with Ninety-three is the mirror of The Man Who Laughs. Which is ironic because both books were supposed to be part of a trilogy that was never completed. I can't find the link between the two of them At All, so I wonder what that third book was even supposed to be about!

But by no means I'm saying any of the two books is bad. Both absolutely worth the reading. I just happen to love Les Miserables and Notre Dame more, maybe because they scratch the itch of the balance between character and symbol, and they leave no narration hanging.

Anyway, onto Toilers! This time, it's a completely blind reading!

#ninety three #the man who laughs #l'homme qui rit #victor Hugo #93 reread #mari reads stuff

Had Ninety-three been longer, Hugo would have probably waxed about the symbolically homoerotic tension between Cimourdain and Lantenac more than he does in the present book, and it would have been a ship to rival valvert.

Probably. Possibly. I don't know.

#cimourdain #lantenac #ninety three #93 reread #mari reads stuff

I forgot Victor Hugo had written his own RPF Robespierre/Danton/Marat toxic yaoi fanfic in the middle of Ninety-three

Rip Hugo, you would have loved AO3

#victor Hugo #ninety three #93 reread #mari reads stuff #he did not like Marat much uh

Ninety-three reread thoughts so far:

This book is smaller than other Hugo books. I forgot how quickly the events proceed, it surprised me, given how much Hugo likes to talk, and coming from Homme Qui Rit, where he especially liked to combine his philosophy with poetry and drama.

In the midst of all the main characters, I had completely forgotten about Tellmarch and I'm ashamed of it because he's possibly the GOAT

What's with Hugo and shipwrecks? He loves describing those. I'm expecting some exciting stuff in Toilers.

Reading Hugo with notes is much better than reading Hugo without notes. I like being given meaning and context behind his references. Man, I wish my Homme qui Rit copy had notes. I may have to reread that book a third time, if I find a copy with notes.

I wonder tho, why does nobody talk about this book? Hugo considered it as important as Les Mis, and yet it seems to me that it's the least adapted and referenced book of his. Or maybe I'm just ignorant.

I mean, I myself didn't like it as much as his other books on my first read, and jury is still out of where it will place once this reread is over, but for now I can totally see why he considered it so important.

Maybe it's because it's short compared to the others? Maybe it's because the drama only really happens at once at the end? Maybe nobody wants to write Lantenac x Cimourdain toxic yaoi (I can fix that)?

Also Michelle x Radoub otp. For all the two interactions they share.

#ninety three #victor Hugo #93 reread #mari reads stuff